The former French owner of an 18th century Bordeaux chateau “mistakenly”
knocked down by Polish builders has said her family was “traumatised” to
find their childhood home razed to the ground.

Juliette Marmie said her daughters and those of her brother, who had co-owned the chateau before selling it to a Russian businessman in 2010, had “reacted very badly because it represented all their family memories.”

“They are the hardest hit”.

“We would often pass by it to see what they had done. I can’t tell you how traumatic it was to turn up one day to find the whole chateau had vanished,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

The picturesque Château de Bellevue a jewel of 18th century architecture in Yvrac, a small winemaking village, was happily nestling among its famous vineyards until last month.

Mrs Marmie’s father had bought the chateau around 1980. “For more than 20 years we all worked hard on its upkeep and to see it go up in smoke is terrible,” she said.

New Russian owner Dimistry Stroskin had been granted a permit to renovate the edifice, which was due to be restored to its former glory.

On Friday, the town hall’s general secretary, Lise Mattiazzo, confirmed that Mr Stroskin had only been given permission to renovate the chateau exterior, the domain’s 16m swimming pool and to build a new pool house.

Instead the main building was razed to the ground by a Polish building firm. All that is standing is a separate, small guesthouse on the grounds of the 14,000ft estate.

It also transpires the building was likely of particular architectural importance as town hall officials believe it was designed by Victor Louis, a renowned 18th century architect who designed the Grand theatre of Bordeaux.

According to local French newspaper Sud-Ouest, the chateau’s owner was “in a state of shock” on learning of the catastrophic demolition job.

Mr Stroskin, who runs an import business in Warsaw, Poland, said that he had spent years scouring the area for his ideal French chateau, finally plumping for Bellevue after “falling in love” with it.

He had intended to use the place as a holiday home and be “involved in local community life” when visiting.

He has vowed to “rebuild an identical Bellevue” including the chateau’s grand hall, which could host up to 200 people. But he said he would not be prosecuting the builders as “the damage has been done”.

Locals, however, are furious at the loss of their local heritage and many believe it was more than a mistake.

The irate mayor of Yvrac, Claude Carty, has ordered all work on the site to be stopped while an investigation takes place.

“A building permit for renovation was indeed delivered in June 2011,” he told Sud-Ouest. “It simply authorised the destruction of a tiny part of the outhouses.”

Local authorities have also lodged a complaint over a breach of the town’s building code with prosecutors.